By Renee Wood
Yarra Ranges Council held its first official in-person council meeting in the new Civic Centre this week, where councillors gathered for a ribbon cutting ceremony before taking their seats in the gallery room.
Wurundjeri Elder Dave Wandin conducted the Welcome to Country and the longest standing Councillor Len Cox had the honour of cutting the ribbon on Tuesday 14 June.
Mayor Jim Child said this is a very special occasion, one that councillors have been waiting 10 years .
“We occupied a building that served this community so well for so many years and nearly thirty of those years was with the Yarra Ranges Council,” he said.
“Before that we all know it was the Shire of Lilydale’s Council home and it served them well to.”
Past councillors, past mayors and local Victorian MPs Cindy McLeish and Bridget Vallence were in attendance.
It was the first council meeting the nine councillors have come together for in the past two years and also the first time 2020 elected members met in a council gallery.
Construction first began in 2019 and it now boasts more spaces available to the community.
Yarra Ranges Council CEO Tammy Rose said it is now open to the public.
“The facility itself is designed as both a civic centre and a community building,” she said.
“The meeting rooms that you are sitting in and some of the other public spaces that are around here will be available for all of our community to come and enjoy and have meetings in the facility as well.”
The public is also now able to attend the ordinary council meetings in the gallery room, while live streams will also still be available.
